BARB WIEE FENCES. 217 



unusual in regions where, not long ago, to embark in the 

 cattle business it was only necessary to buy the cattle. All 

 this is changed ; the herdsman must become a land-owner, 

 and the land-owner can control his own herds, now that he 

 can fence his broad acres cheaply and effectively. I leave it 

 for those versed in the facts of the cattle trade to give full 

 weight to the advantage of parting with free range and its 

 perils of loose infectious herds, for a system that makes 

 cattle-raising as close and easily controlled as on a New 

 England farm. 



I have thus sought to sketch, as briefly as possible, the 

 facts on which the utility of a new fence material rests, and 

 I have the belief that it cannot be intelligently considered 

 with any less ample range of view than that which should 

 take in the whole subject of fences. 



Mr. Waee. I suppose all persons, and farmers particu- 

 larly, are desirous of obtaining facts, and learning the expe- 

 rience of those who have tried barbed wire fence. I have 

 had some experience that may be of interest. I put up 

 about six rods of barbed wire fence of the most approved 

 kind. I had had a very high opinion of it. I turned a 

 horse out for a little exercise. He Avas a horse that was par- 

 ticularly desirous of showing off his good points. After he 

 had been out a sufficient length of time, I called him to the 

 barn. I had always noticed that this horse did not care to 

 exhibit himself unless he had spectators. When I called him, 

 he took another turn around the field, head and tail erect, 

 looking for all the world a horse. He ran in the direc- 

 tion of my barbed fence. I felt that the fence was in some 

 danger. He approached it and struck it, and he was held 

 there. In struggling to get away, that barbed fence sawed 

 iuto his flesh across the arm and shoulder to such a depth 

 that, when he got away, it was perfectly frightful. I got 

 him to the barn, and querie 1 at first whether I should knock 

 him in the head at once, or try to save him. I wanted to save 

 him, and I sent for a veterinary surgeon to examine him. He 

 trimmed the ghastly wound by cutting ofl' the ragged edges, 

 and I nursed that horse for three or four months carefully, 

 and finally he was cured. He is now a serviceable horse. 



